The Light in the Dark
by LouisaHISmoi
Summary: Post Season 4 fic, slightly AU, summaries are not my greatest area, but it is a Paire fic with incest. A story about life after Claire jumped in front of those cameras, and the relationship between her and Peter that grows. PAIRE Peter/Claire. ON HOLD...
1. Chapter 1

**A.N: Right, hello guys and gals! I know I'm not the best with my stories, but I really _really _want to try with this one. This is slightly AU, in such that Nathan is still alive and Peter has all his powers like in the first season, apart from that Claire still jumped from the Ferris Wheel, and Sylar is still good. Read and review with any comments. I warn you though, this will be an INCEST story eventually (I'm not the type of gal to have the main character say 'I love you' in the second chapter) and with have a lot of sublt and major flirting between an unlce and niece, with possible mature-ness later on. I've warned you, so if its not your thing toodles, if it is GREAT!, and if you want to try it, go ahead!**

**Thanks :) Loulou xx**

* * *

><p>The dark night outside was plastered with specks of falling snow, the late December weather was flustering around the tall buildings, the moving cars and people of New York City. A town house, or mansion depending of your perspective, was filled with rushed voices, looking for coats, shoes and purses. Upstairs, though, was a room where all was quiet, yet someone was up and moving, just not making any sound.<p>

Slender fingers fastened the small golden buckle on a pair of golden strappy high heels. The criss-crossed straps wrapped around a tanned foot, nails perfectly painted, which was joined to a long tanned leg that disappeared under a flowing orange material, however, as this material disappeared, over it lay a dark pink colour, of the same fabric, the layers falling like waves on the shore. The hands retracted, and now reached for a pair of hot pink earrings, which dangled from a string of diamonds, and gently placed them in each ear, a necklace to match, and a diamond tennis bracelet were added to complete the ensemble.

Now everything was in place, hair pinned and curled, dress fitted perfectly, tan immaculate, the blonde haired girl grabbed her purse and headed for her bedroom door. The girl stepped along the tiled floor to the top of the spiralled staircase.

"Come on Claire, we'll be late!" Called a male voice, obviously frustrated.

Claire breathed in deeply, preparing herself for her family's reaction. After exhaling, Claire started the long decent to the floor bellow. Her dark pink dress flowed behind her, the orange under skirt visible. The sound of her shoes heels making contact with the staircase was the only noise at that moment. The mouths of Claire's family shut tightly at the sight of the 17 year old. As she reached the bottom of the spiral, Claire looked up at her father.

"Is this okay?" She asked innocently. A smile appeared on her father's face.

"You look beautiful" He said as he held open the front door of the town house.

She made her way out into the New York air and walked towards the car that was awaiting them. She thanked the driver, who was keeping the door open for them to climb in, and settled into a seat, ready for the short journey to the gala they were going to. Once the rest of her family, her father, stepmother, two stepbrothers and grandmother, were all in the car and comfortable the driver closed the door and went to the seat behind the wheel. He started the engine and drove down the road.

The journey had taken a tad longer than hoped, the New Years traffic was building up, and the light snowfall made roads trickier to manoeuvre, but they still arrived in time, with a few minutes to spare. The family climbed out, and headed up the large steps into the grand building before them. Claire took a moment to look over her shoulder; a group of people were lined up against the black railings at the end of the driveway. Many with large cameras flashing in her eyes, a couple had signs, her eyes moved to one and her heart sank. _"Get out of our country freaks!"_ Many people treated them like that now, and it was all her fault. If she hadn't jumped off of that Ferris wheel none of this would have been happening.

"Claire, are you coming?" Her father asked her, his hand outstretched in her direction. Claire smiled, and took his hand, walking into the brightly lit room filled with glamorous people wearing suits and gowns of all shapes, sizes and colours. Claire smoothed down her dress in an attempt to make herself seem more appropriate. Her grandmother looked at her, a small smile on her thin lips.

"Stop worrying. You look fine" It was unlike her grandmother to be in such a good mood. But she didn't argue. _No one argues with Angela Petrelli! _Claire thought to herself with a small smirk on her face.

"She's right you know. You do look lovely." A voice behind her spoke.

Claire turned in the direction of the speech, and was shocked to see her uncle standing in front of her, dressed smartly for the first time that she could remember, his dark hair falling across his face, slightly covering the dark eyes that were fixed on her. Beside him stood another man, also with dark hair.

"Sylar, Peter, what are you two doing here?" Claire asked with her left eyebrow raised.

"Well as a Petrelli, I was invited, with a plus one, and as I'm single, I brought him. He was bored, and his constant moaning didn't stop until I said he could come" Peter replied, grumbling the last sentence. A small smile grew on Sylar's face. "How have you been? Nathan has kept you locked up for a while." Peter asked sympathetically.

"As fine as I can be. Things weren't great at first. Dad, Noah, was adamant about me staying with Nathan, but after what I did, I think Nathan wanted to keep an eye on me. And I could see what I had done had affected Noah pretty badly. So I agreed to stay with them. They are my family after all." Claire explained to the two men in front of her, more directly at Peter. Her eyes shifted, her head faced to the floor. "You could've visited. Nathan would've let you." She added quietly, almost like she didn't think he would care. She didn't wait for his response. Peter watched as Claire walked away from him to join the rest of their family at the round table where they now sat. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked at Sylar, who moved his head in a way that said _Come on._

Peter reluctantly followed the once twisted mind, and sat down in his allocated seat, right next to Claire, who turned to her left slightly, so she was able to talk to Simon and Monty instead of her uncle. Peter sighed. He looked at her, his mind open as he sent a thought into her mind. _I'm really sorry Claire, I should've tried. Please don't do this… _

* * *

><p><strong>Well, thats the first bit! Hoped you enjoyed it, I hope it gets better, but I want to see the overall reaction first ^_^ please review with comments and notes you want to say. 3<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! This is chapter two, but I won't update until I get at least ONE review, be it good or bad. Come on guys, I need your help here!**

* * *

><p>Claire shifted in her seat, she placed her right arm on the table, to make a barrier between her and Peter. She wasn't going to break yet, she had grown stronger in the recent months, and that pleading and lopsided smirk weren't going break her defences. Not this time. When the words filled her head, her body tensed. It was just like him to invade her like that, any means needed to try and win her back to his side. Once Peter has finished, her fist clenched, anger building inside of her, he thought she would just forgive him didn't he? That she'd just fall from her pride because he was her <em>hero<em>. No, not this time.

Claire raised her head, looking straight ahead past the head of her family, to focus on a spot on the wall opposite her. Her silent defence was interrupted by the arrival of the starter course for their meal, tomato bruschetta. As the family started eating, Claire's focus deteriorated, as she held the salsa covered bread in her hand, she drifted back to the night at the Carnival. More importantly, the jump, the things she saw before she hit the ground and the questions afterward. It was all a blur after she stood up and relocated her shoulder. Nathan had flown in and had taken her away from the flashing lights. Only to yell at her for thirty minutes, until she started crying, he then pulled her into an embrace, and told her, _Everything is going to be fine Claire, I promise. _That was a lie though, everything was not fine. Different people reacted with equalling emotions. Some welcomed them, even hired them to help keep people safe, like Sylar who now worked with the police in hostage situations to stop the criminal and get the victim out safely. However, some people had turned on them, refusing to acknowledge them as human, calling them "experiments" "freaks". The worst one happened to Claire whilst she was in a class.

A girl had walked up to her, tilted her head and stated "_I've only ever seen you, your father and your uncle with these _powers, _are you sure you're some incestuous rejects who find it okay to fuck each other?" _That one had sent Claire over the edge. She jumped up and grabbed the girl by the throat, throwing her onto the table she was once sitting at. Claire was only stopped from choking the girl to death when a boy shoved a knife into Claire's back, hitting her heart, and killing her. This gave the shaken girl time to stand up and back away from the angered blonde. When Claire gasped for air, people ran, no one wanting to get on her bad side, as they knew you couldn't win against a girl that can't die.

A hand touched Claire's shoulder making her jump out of her trance. Her hands opened releasing the bruschetta, which fell to her plate with a small thud. She looked at the owner of the hand. Peter's eyes looked at her with worried expressions. She pushed his hand of her shoulder, and excused herself, saying she needed some air. She pushed her chair out, stood up and walked to in the direction of the terrace.

Once outside in the cold air, her body relaxed. The snowflakes melting on her olive skin. She leaned forward, resting her arms on the stone fencing. She looked up, eyeing the snow filled clouds, the occasional aeroplane, and a star or two visible between the clouds. A small, sad smile appeared on her lips as she breathed in deeply, exhaling a rush of air, visible to her eyes.

Peter watched Claire from the door into the hall, leaning against the frame. He walked beside her, his shoulder touching hers as he leaned in the same way she did. He saw her shiver, coming to the conclusion she was cold. He placed an arm around her shoulders, trying to warm her up.

"Claire, you know you can talk to me. What's bothering you so much?" He asked her, looking at her downcast eyes as he spoke.

"Peter, why are you here? Do you really think I'm just going to open up and spill my sorrows for you to see?" She glared at him, the anger still inside her.

"No of course not, but I'm worried about you Claire, am I not allowed to be worried about someone I care for?" He questioned, getting slightly angry himself now.

"You care about? You haven't showed any sign that you care for me in over 3 months Peter! I'm closer to Sylar than I am to! You were my hero Peter, and you let me down, how can I ever forgive you for that? How?" She hissed at him. Her eyes burning with pain and disappointment.

Peter sighed, Claire was now facing him fully, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. Peter ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know. I was wrong not to try and see you. I feel awful for abandoning you, but how was I to realise you needed me? You didn't exactly call, or text did you?" He shouted at her, their argument growing every second.

Claire shook her head, a cynical laugh escaping her lips.

"Oh right so it's my fault is it Peter? What happened to _Save the cheerleader, save the world_? What happened to us? There were points when you would do anything to protect me, and you didn't even come and see me. Or couldn't you be bothered? Was Emma taking up all your spare time?" She shouted back, walking back into the warmth of the building, only to be stopped by a hand at her elbow.

"What the hell has Emma got to do with this? She has done nothing wrong!" Peter seethed at her.

"She took my hero away from me! That's what she did!" Claire yelled in his face, stunning him silent.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Right my readers, I realise its been a rather long time since I updated this, but I have now...even though it's extremely short...I hope it relieves some thirst :) L x**

* * *

><p>Peter looked into the emerald eyes that were holding him in place, daring him to say more, to contradict what she had said. A look of disbelief etched onto Peters face. A deep breath filled his lungs, pushing his chest outwards. The tight grip he had on Claire's elbow loosened, but not enough to allow her to leave, he needed to know what she mean, what she was feeling, it wasn't as if she was going anywhere soon at the moment anyway. His eyes were still holding in place, an intense feeling spiralling around them, although neither of them were able to recognise what it was. After blinking more times than needed, Peters eyes drifted to where his hand, the one that had encased itself around the smooth olive skin. His thumb rubbing, almost caressing the crease in skin where the limb bends.<p>

"Claire, you have to believe me when I say I'm sorry. I know, I've been there for you in the past, and this time, in the hardest of times we could face, I wasn't." Peter stopped to look at her reaction. He noticed her shoulders had relaxed slightly. "But Claire, you have to realise that, I needed time to adapt to the changes too. People know what we can do now. Life is different now Claire, never to be the same again." He pulled on her arm, bringing her into an embrace; the pain of the previous months began to flood back, resulting in Claire having a break down in his arms, which were wrapped tightly around her small frame. The salty droplets that fell from her eyes were leaking through his dress shirt, and onto his skin.

Peter's hands ran over her back, soothing her, his hand grazing the bare skin of her upper back, thanks to the stunning strapless dress Claire was wearing. When a wave of sobs hit Claire, Peter pulled her to him tighter, wrapping his arms around her almost crushingly tight. Peter rested his right cheek atop of Claire's head, shushing her tears and telling her everything would be okay. The words weren't there to just re-ashore her though, he needed to believe them too, and at this moment, he wasn't sure if he could. In the current climate, with the publics reactions to the, reveal, he sometimes thought that they would never be welcomed, or even accepted into normal society again, and it scared him. He was scared for his family, friends, and himself.

Peter leaned back, looking Claire in the eyes. He used his thumb to wipe away the last tear that had fallen to her cheek.

"Come on; let's go inside, it's getting cold." Peter suggested, leaning his head toward the door. Claire nodded, and sniffed a little. She walked forward, Peter placing his hand on the small of her back, guiding her.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading guys, remember to review if you want...and I own nothing but the idea in my little brain. :D <strong>


End file.
